Prosody-Driven Movement? Evidence from Bangla

Abstract

This paper addresses a longstanding puzzle in Bangla syntax regarding the position of the complementizer particle je (cf. Bayer and Dasgupta 2010, Bhattacharya 2001 and Hsu 2015). Preposing of finite complement clauses is observed to be related to the position occupied by the complementizer je within the complement clause. Some earlier accounts have tried to explain the phenomenon with the help of information-structure-driven movements, while the other has been a syntax-phonology interface approach (Hsu 2015). This paper suggests a novel connection between the movement of an element to the left of the je particle and scrambling in Bangla. Finally, a syntax-phonology interface account along the lines of Hsu (2015) is suggested, where the final positioning of the complementizer and the complement clause is determined by an interaction of post-syntactic constraints.